Marco Silva hails Jordan Pickford’s penalty heroics

Everton boss Marco Silva hailed Jordan Pickford’s penalty-saving prowess after the England goalkeeper kept out Luka Milivojevic’s spot-kick in the 2-0 win over Crystal Palace.

Pickford kept the score at 0-0 on the hour mark at Goodison Park as he saved Milivojevic’s strike from 12 yards.

The Toffees subsequently snatched victory late on, with substitutes Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Cenk Tosun scoring in the 87th and 89th minutes respectively.

Silva was asked afterwards if Pickford had almost an aura about him when it came to spot-kicks following his World Cup penalty shoot-out save against Colombia during the summer.

And the Portuguese said: “He has this quality, this profile.

“He is solid in that moment and can keep calm to take the right decision. It was an important moment in the match.”

Calvert-Lewin headed in from an Ademola Lookman delivery five minutes after both had come off the bench. Tosun, brought on midway through the second half, then added a slotted finish.

Silva, whose side registered their third Premier League win in a row, said: “It is important for us and me as a coach that when the three players come in, they help the team.

“This must show us everybody is ready to play and everybody is fighting for his position in the squad.

“Of course I’m happy because they came in and helped. Cenk the last two games at home has come on and scored twice, and Lookman and Dominic are working really hard to achieve what they want.”

Everton are up to eighth and play 10th-placed Manchester United away next Sunday.

Silva added: “Now we are in a good momentum and it is important we keep (that).

“But we know the Premier League is really hard and every game is a different challenge and you have to be ready for everything.”

Palace were beaten for the third successive game and are down a place to 15th.

Boss Roy Hodgson, whose team have scored only five times in their nine league matches this season and once in their last four, said: “The fact is you have to take your chances.

“We came across a goalkeeper in form, of course. The (penalty) miss definitely lifted the crowd, they really got behind their team and it gave them fresh impetus going forward.

“I am not certain people would have begrudged us a result had we got one, but we didn’t and we have to now dust ourselves down and lift ourselves up because there is no point feeling sorry for yourselves.”